Chennai Central station medical facility on right track

While Chennai Central undergoes its five-year maintenance makeover, complete with a fresh coat of paint, work on a new 24x7 pharmacy is also underway. The medical facility will open at the main terminal and will have state-of-the-art emergency facilities with scanning, x-ray and a provision for 12 beds to treat passengers.

 

 Currently, there is no permanent medical aid facility in the station that has a footfall of over 1.25 lakh. “The new facility will be operated by a leading private hospital in the city. There was a demand from passengers too for a medical facility as the earlier clinic was closed due to space constraints,” said an official at the station.

 Simultaneously, the painting work that is underway will cover around 9,500 sq. metres of the main building. The age-old maroon color will be retained over the white color that is currently painted on the 142-year old structure.

 

“The renovation work is conducted to make sure that the dark maroon color stays strong over the building,” said a senior official in the engineering department, Southern Railway. Additional divisional railway manager Mohan Raja monitors the paint work that is undertaken by a 20-member team under Southern Railway’s engineering department. The entire paint work is set to complete in two weeks time. The sidewalls of the terminal side of the central station are also on the way towards a facelift as all the old iron structures are being removed and a red coating is given to it.